World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

'Sledgehammer on Trump, scalpel on Sanders': Biden approaches key debate
Trouble in paradise: Family, feuds and fraud in Jersey
Write a diary, take action: Hubei residents on fighting coronavirus anxiety
Anti-inflammatories may aggravate Covid-19, France advises
Putin takes next step to staying in power till 2036
New York woman was shackled to bed during childbirth, lawsuit says
Czech village razed by Hitler at heart of row on truth and history
Met police concedes forcing woman to remove hijab at airport was wrong
France closes 'non-essential' public spaces due to coronavirus
We are old and in love, but she left me after my cancer diagnosis | Dear Mariella
Durham’s ‘pitman’s parliament’, a monument of industrial heritage, saved from ruin
Forward-thinking Utrecht builds car-free district for 12,000 people
In the rubble of Taiz, all roads to a normal life are blocked
'We love him': Biden's hometown of Scranton highlights his earthy appeal
Coronavirus: airlines face meltdown as global travel bans multiply
Hong Kong: with coronavirus curbed, protests may return
Tropical Cyclone Gretel set to bypass Norfolk Island but damaging winds expected
With the closure of another club space, the scene that revived Berlin is being lost | Michael Scaturro
Brexit threatens UK’s ability to respond to a future pandemic
We can’t be squeamish about death. We need to confront our worst fears
What is a pandemic and does it change the approach to coronavirus?
US expands travel ban to UK and Ireland amid Coronavirus outbreak – video
Donald Trump reveals he has been tested for coronavirus – video
New Zealand cancels Christchurch attacks memorial due to coronavirus – video
Islamic call to prayer changes in Kuwait amid coronavirus fears – video

'Sledgehammer on Trump, scalpel on Sanders': Biden approaches key debate

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT

The coronavirus pandemic has shifted Sunday's Democratic debate behind closed doors – but it is still hugely important

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders will square off in the 11th Democratic debate on Sunday night, in a contest moved from Arizona to Washington DC and held without a live audience due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Trouble in paradise: Family, feuds and fraud in Jersey

Posted: 15 Mar 2020 01:34 AM PDT

The wealthy Dick family are set for a court battle that could shine an unwelcome light on the world of offshore trusts

The recent, turbulent history of the Dick family reads like a Netflix reboot of Bleak House. For this is the tale of an unending court case involving the recent sale of a fabulous mansion in one of Britain's better known tax havens, home to a man whose rags-to-riches life could have been penned by Charles Dickens.

John W Dick was raised in Canada as a Mennonite – a Christian sect whose members live humble, God-fearing lives.

Write a diary, take action: Hubei residents on fighting coronavirus anxiety

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT

As Covid-19 spreads worldwide, the people of Hubei explain how they dealt with the lockdown

In the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, where millions have been under lockdown for the last two months, Hubei residents have been coping with uncertainty, anxiety and stress.

As the virus spreads around the world, people living in the province spoke to the Guardian about how they coped with prolonged confinement, isolation and panic, and the strategies they used to protect their mental health.

Anti-inflammatories may aggravate Covid-19, France advises

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 08:51 AM PDT

French minister says patients should take paracetamol rather than ibuprofen or cortisone

French authorities have warned that widely used over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs may worsen the coronavirus.

The country's health minister, Olivier Véran, who is a qualified doctor and neurologist, tweeted on Saturday: "The taking of anti-inflammatories [ibuprofen, cortisone … ] could be a factor in aggravating the infection. In case of fever, take paracetamol. If you are already taking anti-inflammatory drugs, ask your doctor's advice."

Putin takes next step to staying in power till 2036

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:20 PM PDT

Constitutional changes, if approved, would give the leader a further two consecutive six-year terms

President Vladimir Putin has formally asked Russia's constitutional court if it is legal for him to change the constitution, the Kremlin said on Saturday, a move that could permit him remain in power until 2036.

In January, Putin unveiled a major shake-up of Russian politics and a constitutional overhaul, which the Kremlin billed as a redistribution of power from the presidency to parliament. But Putin, 67, who has dominated Russia's political landscape for two decades as either president or prime minister, made a dramatic appearance in parliament on 10 March to back a new amendment that would allow him to ignore a current constitutional ban on him running again in 2024.

New York woman was shackled to bed during childbirth, lawsuit says

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 01:34 PM PDT

African American woman, 22, sues New York City and police
Representative decries 'dehumanizing and pointless practice'

A 22-year-old African American woman has filed a civil rights lawsuit in New York, claiming she was shackled to a hospital gurney during labor, after being arrested on a minor assault charge that was later dismissed.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of "Jane Doe" against the City of New York and several New York police department (NYPD) officers who arrested the woman in December 2018, when she was more than 40 weeks pregnant, claims the woman was also handcuffed and shackled after she gave birth to her son.

Czech village razed by Hitler at heart of row on truth and history

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:01 AM PDT

Lidice's survivors hit back at claims that Jewish woman was denounced to Nazis as academics resign over state interference

For more than three-quarters of a century, the story of Lidice has stood as haunting testimony of Czech suffering and victimhood at the hands of cruel Nazi occupiers.

The village, 16 miles from Prague, was razed to the ground, its adult male population murdered and its women and children transported to concentration camps – where the majority died – after Adolf Hitler singled it out in retribution for the assassination in 1942 of Reinhard Heydrich, deputy leader of the SS, by British-trained Czech and Slovak resistance fighters.

Met police concedes forcing woman to remove hijab at airport was wrong

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:01 AM PDT

Critics say female Muslim travellers have been targeted. An out-of-court settlement suggests they are right

Police have admitted that forcing Muslim women to remove their headscarves at UK airports could be unlawful, a practice likened by one victim to being made "to remove her top".

In an out-of-court settlement, the Metropolitan Police has conceded that when it coerced a woman to take off her hijab so officers could photograph her, it was a breach of her human rights and violated the woman's right to religious observance.

France closes 'non-essential' public spaces due to coronavirus

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 03:44 PM PDT

Food shops, tobacconists, banks, and public transport will remain open despite the order

France has announced the closure of all public places "non-essential" to public life including restaurants, cafes, cinemas and discos from midnight Saturday.

"We must absolutely limit movement, meetings and contacts," French prime minister Edouard Philippe said on Saturday evening. Food shops, tobacconists, banks and public transport will remain open, he said.

We are old and in love, but she left me after my cancer diagnosis | Dear Mariella

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT

We might assume better treatment from maturing adults but at least she was decisive, says Mariella Frostrup

The dilemma In the summer I met a wonderful woman online. She is kind, clever, good looking and many other positive things. We clicked from the outset and became lovers after a couple of months. We have a combined age of 127, but we both said the sex was the best we've ever enjoyed. She told me she loved me – and it was reciprocated. We live 100 miles apart, but that suited our busy lifestyles.

Everything was wonderful and we seemed to be very much on the same wavelength until November, when I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. The treatment is extensive, but hasn't yet started. She broke up with me over Christmas. She still professes love for me (though we haven't been in contact for a few weeks), but says she is too busy with work, family and friends to commit to me, and that I would become too needy of her and her time. I don't agree that I would, but I can see why she might say that. I have recently retired. I miss her terribly and don't know how to deal with it.

Durham’s ‘pitman’s parliament’, a monument of industrial heritage, saved from ruin

Posted: 15 Mar 2020 12:45 AM PDT

Redhills, for long the base of the Durham miners and a centre of community culture, is set to return to its former glory

More than 100 years ago, when miners in County Durham decided to build a hall for their association, they did not think small. Opened in 1915, and funded by subscriptions from across one of Europe's largest coalfields, the new headquarters boasted a lavish 48-metre facade, a white marble staircase, a domed roof and splendid oak-panelled committee rooms.

The crowning glory was a spectacular debating chamber, nicknamed the pitman's parliament, in which each numbered seat corresponded to a colliery. Deliberately designed to resemble a mine-owner's country estate, Redhills was a unique and extraordinary monument to working-class pride, ambition and self-organisation.

Forward-thinking Utrecht builds car-free district for 12,000 people

Posted: 15 Mar 2020 02:27 AM PDT

Scheme will enhance city's reputation as bicycling capital of Europe

The "cyclist-first' city of Utrecht is constructing the Netherlands' first high-density car-free residential district for more than 12,000 people, making it one of the largest of its type in the world.

The 24-hectare site, located between two canals in the middle of the city, is a business park but by 2024 it is hoped the area will enhance Utrecht's reputation as a bicycling capital of Europe.

In the rubble of Taiz, all roads to a normal life are blocked

Posted: 15 Mar 2020 02:10 AM PDT

Once Yemen's capital of culture, the city is split between Houthi and government control – and a drive that used to take five minutes now takes five hours

In a conflict often called the "forgotten war", one Yemeni city feels most forgotten of all.

"I want the whole world to know about Taiz," declares Mohammed Saleh al-Qaisi. "I want them to see what Taiz was, and what's happening now." We're sitting on a step on a street buzzing with motorcycles and the tinkle of bicycle bells. A few shops away, young men drinking hot sweet tea cradle rifles in their laps and wave at passersby. Above them, a billboard advertises books from Cambridge University Press and McGraw-Hill.

'We love him': Biden's hometown of Scranton highlights his earthy appeal

Posted: 15 Mar 2020 12:00 AM PDT

The Democrat's rust-belt background is key to his case to become the nominee. Local residents welcome the prospect

The Scranton store where a young Joe Biden used to buy his candy is still in operation today, a stone's throw from the wood-slatted house where the presidential candidate grew up.

It's called Hank's Hoagies now, in honor of the idiosyncratic Pennsylvania term for a sandwich on a long bread roll, and almost 70 years since Biden left Scranton, his presence lives on – in the form of a lifesize cardboard cut out lurking behind the store's front door.

Coronavirus: airlines face meltdown as global travel bans multiply

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:28 PM PDT

American Airlines to scrap most long-haul flights while Australia orders all arrivals to self-isolate and Spain goes into lockdown

Coronavirus – latest updates

The international travel industry faces a widespread shutdown over coronavirus fears after airlines announced new flight reductions and more countries introduced travel bans and isolation requirements.

Travel businesses were hit with multiple doses of bad news on Saturday and Sunday, with the US expanding its Europe travel ban to include the UK and Ireland, a number of South American countries bringing in flight restrictions and Australia joining New Zealand in requiring all people entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days.

Hong Kong: with coronavirus curbed, protests may return

Posted: 15 Mar 2020 02:10 AM PDT

As the revolt dampens and government crackdowns increase, views differ on whether the movement can regain momentum

Amid a global pandemic, Hong Kong's famously crowded streets are eerily quiet. Most of the city's 7.5m people have been practising various forms of social distancing for months.

Shops and restaurants are empty, already struggling in a recession after nine months of teetering on the brink of revolution.

Tropical Cyclone Gretel set to bypass Norfolk Island but damaging winds expected

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 10:03 PM PDT

Strong wind warnings also in place for coastal regions across south-east Queensland and northern NSW

Tropical Cyclone Gretel is set to bypass Norfolk Island in the next 48 hours, although it will still create damaging winds.

Tropical Cyclone Gretel may not make landfall but was still expected to have an impact with damaging wind warnings of around 100km/h for coastal regions across south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales.

With the closure of another club space, the scene that revived Berlin is being lost | Michael Scaturro

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT

The dance community helped reunify East and West Germany in the 1990s, but gentrification is slowly killing it

I was in bed when my friend Alfonso called me. "It's the last party at Griessmuehle," he said. "It's the last Cocktail there. Throw on some clothes. We're going."

Cocktail d'Amore is one of a handful of landmark Berlin parties that have made the German capital a centre of LGBTQ+ youth culture over the past two decades. It took place in a venue called Griessmuehle, an old East German grain mill that people enjoyed because one moment you might be kissing on shower tiles, the next dancing in a silo. Sadly, it is to be demolished this spring to make space for a resort hotel. It certainly wasn't an architectural jewel like the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall or Museum Island – but clubs, along with cheap studio space and vibrant subcultures, are what made Berlin the city so many love today.

Brexit threatens UK’s ability to respond to a future pandemic

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 12:00 PM PDT

The coronavirus should remind us of just why international cooperation is so important in reducing the threat of infectious disease
• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

Brexit threatens the UK's ability to respond to the novel coronavirus and future pandemics

The coronavirus pandemic could not have come at a worse time for the UK and its citizens. Just as UK government ministers are digging in for the really difficult part of Brexit, the negotiations on future relationships with the EU and the rest of the world, a new virus comes out of China that reminds us of just why international co-operation is so important.

We can’t be squeamish about death. We need to confront our worst fears

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:51 AM PDT

Patients, their families and their doctors need to be open about the inevitable as the virus sweeps through our population
• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

As the coronavirus spreads through the British population, there is one fact we can all agree on. Whether we like it or not, society's greatest taboo – death and dying – has been thrust unequivocally centre stage.

How could it not, when government strategy is to allow the virus to infect huge swathes of the country in the hope of building sufficient "herd immunity" to protect from future harm? The virus has killed an estimated 3.4% of those it has infected, according to the World Health Organization, although this figure is expected to decline as the true number of people infected becomes apparent. Herd immunity, according to Downing Street's chief scientific adviser, requires a minimum infection rate of 60% of the population. Thus we may face a potential early and unexpected death toll of hundreds of thousands of Britons.

What is a pandemic and does it change the approach to coronavirus?

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 11:31 AM PDT

The WHO has declared the Covid-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. But what does that mean?

Declaring a pandemic has nothing to do with changes to the characteristics of a disease, but is instead associated with concerns over its geographic spread. According to the World Health Organization, a pandemic is declared when a new disease for which people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond expectations.

US expands travel ban to UK and Ireland amid Coronavirus outbreak – video

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 03:07 PM PDT

All travel between the United States and the UK and Ireland will be suspended from midnight EST on Monday. Vice-president Mike Pence announced the new measure at a coronavirus task force news briefing on Saturday.

A top medical official Anthony Fauci said the move could change the course of coronavirus's spread across the country, which he said 'has not yet reached its peak'.

Coronavirus latest updates: 10 more people in UK die, Jet2 flights turn back from Spain

Donald Trump reveals he has been tested for coronavirus – video

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 01:10 PM PDT

Donald Trump has confirmed he took a coronavirus test after exposure to infected people including a member of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's entourage in Florida last weekend. He revealed he had been tested at a briefing where it was announced the US would ban travellers from the UK and Ireland from entering the country from Monday.

A White House physician later issued a statement confirming that Trump does not have Covid-19. Meanwhile, his daughter Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser, entered self-isolation on Friday after meeting an Australian politician later revealed to have tested positive.

Trump says he took coronavirus test and expands travel ban to UK and Ireland

New Zealand cancels Christchurch attacks memorial due to coronavirus – video

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:39 AM PDT

New Zealand has called off a national remembrance service to mark a year since the attacks on two Christchurch mosques because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. The event, which was to be held in the city on Sunday, was expected to attract a large crowd of people from across the country and overseas

New Zealand cancels Christchurch attacks memorial due to coronavirus fears

Islamic call to prayer changes in Kuwait amid coronavirus fears – video

Posted: 14 Mar 2020 05:08 AM PDT

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed countries around the world to take stringent measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and protect citizens. A muezzin in Kuwait was heard saying 'al-salatu fi buyutikum' or 'pray in your homes' instead of the usual 'hayya alas-salah' or 'come to prayer'. Saudi Arabia has banned pilgrimages to the Grand Mosque in Mecca and touching the Ka'bah, the shrine toward which all Muslims face in prayer